The United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) opened on Tuesday the resumed sessions of the UNFCCC’s subsidiary bodies and the ad hoc working group on the Paris Agreement in Bangkok, Thailand, amid strong calls for progress.
During the sessions, negotiators from about 190 countries will discuss developing the implementation guidelines of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, in order to provide guidance on how to implement the agreement and apply transparency in how countries are progressing in their actions.
Speakers at the opening session strongly urged negotiators to step up the pace of their work and to move towards negotiating texts, which capture clear options on the implementation guidelines, which can swiftly be finalised and adopted in Katowice. “This is crucial given the deadline that countries set for themselves to complete this work at COP24 (conference of the parties) this year,” according to a statement from the UNFCCC.
Prime Minister of Fiji Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, the current president of the climate change negotiations, gave a brief speech during the opening session. Another opening speech was also given by the Polish president of COP24, Michał Kurtyka, who will preside over negotiations, which will be held in Katowice, Poland in December.
The opening session witnessed speeches from deputy secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), Amina J Mohammed, minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, General Surasak Karnjanarat, Officer in Charge of the UN in Thailand Kaveh Zahedi, and Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa, said that COP24 was right now around the corner, “we are working against the clock. We must now complete the heavy lifting and we must do it rapidly. UN Climate Change stands ready to assist countries.”
Bainimarama impressed upon delegates that the six-day Bangkok talks were urgent adding, “in these few days, we have the opportunity to put the Paris Agreement on a path from words to action.”
